JP2002-92678A (WO02/23493, U.S. Pat. No. 6,783,452) describes a coin sorting system including a presorting unit that presorts coins into three groups as a disc is rotating. The coin sorting system additionally includes two rectilinear main sorting units that further sort by respective denominations two of the three coin groups which the presorting unit has sorted. Since the sorting system has three sorting units in all, the system is disadvantageous in terms of installation space and manufacturing costs.
Also, JP09-508725T (WO95/19017, U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,669), U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,992,602, and 5,551,911 describe coin sorting systems that each including a feed unit which feeds coins one by one with rotation of a disc, and a sorting unit which introduces the coins fed from the feed unit and sorts the coins with rotation of another disc.
In the sorting systems that JP09-508725T and U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,602 describe, the rotary disc of the feed unit and that of the sorting unit are arranged so as to partly overlap each other, and each coin is transferred at the overlapping section. Also, a stationary member is disposed to face at least one of the discs, and the coin is conveyed, being jammed between the stationary member and the disc. When coins are transferred from the feed unit to the sorting unit, therefore, jam with deformed or other coins is likely to occur between the stationary member and the disc. In addition, to clear such jam, it is necessary to broaden the space between the stationary member and the disc to free the jammed coin before the same coin can be directly removed by hand.
On the other hand, the sorting system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,911 further includes a horizontal coin passageway that interconnects the feed unit and the sorting unit. The coin passageway has a conveyor belt that sandwiches a coin between the belt and the bottom of the passageway to convey the coin and a discrimination sensor that discriminates the coins conveyed. In this sorting system, when coins are transferred from the feed unit to the sorting unit, jam with deformed or other coins is also likely to occur between the bottom of the coin passageway and the conveyor belt. In addition, to clear such jam, it is necessary to broaden the space between the bottom of the passageway and the conveyor belt to free any jammed coin before the same coin can be directly removed by hand.
The above-described coin sorting systems all include a rotary disc that has a rotary axis orthogonal to a horizontal plane (i.e., the disc rotates in the horizontal plane). In contrast to these systems, a further coin sorting system is also known that includes a rotary disc having a rotary axis inclined relative to a horizontal plane (i.e., the disc rotates in a plane inclined relative to the horizontal plane) in order to, for example, reduce the area occupied by the apparatus.